'Desperate' Mexican drug lord wants quick extradition to US

Guzman : Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman wants to be rapidly extradited to the United States out of "desperation" over being sleep-deprived in prison, his attorney said Wednesday.

The lawyer, Jose Refugio Rodriguez, said the defense team would seek to negotiate with USauthorities and that it would take at least two months for Guzman to be shipped to Mexico's northern neighbor.

The Sinaloa drug cartel leader made his plea "in a moment of desperation" over his treatment, Rodriguez told AFP, citing concerns for his client's health. 

"He can no longer take this situation," said the lawyer, who had filed injunctions against his client'sextradition following his January 8 recapture.

Prison authorities acknowledged that Guzman, 58, is woken up every four hours to make sure he is still alive as part of regular security measures for high-profile inmates.

Guzman was returned to the Altiplano maximum-security prison after his January capture, which came six months after he had escaped from the same penitentiary through a 1.5-kilometer (mile-long) tunnel.

Authorities have taken extraordinary measures to prevent another embarrassing escape, installing metal rods in the floor to prevent another tunnel dig and posting a guard wearing a camera on his helmet outside the cell.

In a reversal, President Enrique Pena Nieto has ordered the attorney general's office to expedite the extradition process. Prior to Guzman's July escape, Pena Nieto had refused to send him to the United States.

Mexico's attorney general has said extradition could take at least a year.

An official at the attorney general's office said on condition of anonymity that the case was in the hands of a court but that Pena Nieto could use a special law to accelerate the process.

Guzman's wife, former beauty queen Emma Coronel, who is 26, told Radio Formula that "if his life is in danger, we will have to do what's necessary."

She said that Guzman's extradition would not be a "defeat" because she and their twin daughters are US citizens. She gave birth to the girls in California in 2011.